Fix-it: iTunes 7.3.1.3 install Error 2908 on Windows

Well, I’m back from a vacation in Mexico and have been catching up on things. Playing with my new 4 Gig iPhone and getting things working has taken a little bit of time. In the process of doing that, I saw that there was an update to iTunes for PC (I’m on Vista Ultimate) for version 7.3.1.3 and I ran into some pretty big errors during the upgrade process. However, I did find a solution which is documented below (found by yours truly…it might not work for you but it did for me).

First, here is what FAILED: I tried the stand alone installer, downloaded directly from Apple. That process gave me the Error 2908 on install. So, I tried running the installer as the Administrator (right-click and select “Run as Administrator”). Unfortunately, that did not work either (same error produced). Then I tried using the Apple Update utility and it showed that I needed to update iTunes + QuickTime as well as just QuickTime. That installation process crapped out as well with the same error. So then I re-downloaded everything and rebooted and tried it again and I still got the Error 2908. I noticed that the process that it looked like it was hanging at was at the Apple Mobile Device area. So I thought that I was on to something.

Here is how I FIXED it: (again, this worked for me so it might or might not work for you). Below are the steps that I took:

1. I made sure I had a clean full download of iTunes 7.3.1.3.
2. I rebooted my machine.
3. I went into the Services control panel. On Vista, the path is Start > Administrative Tools > Services (which is the same on XP).
4. In the Services panel, I STOPPED the following services:
   • Apple Mobile Device
   • iPod Service
5. With those services stopped, I then ran the downloaded installer without any issues and iTunes was successfully upgraded.

So, this worked on Vista. Note: I did not have any issues using the Apple Update utility on my XP box and did not have any issues with the installation/upgrade. Also, after reviewing my Event Log, I did see an error (MsiInstaller Event ID: 10005 that confirmed my suspicions that the Apple Mobile Device Support was the one causing the problems. The text in the error was as follows:

Product: Apple Mobile Device Support — The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2908. The arguments are: {6966E5FD-3306-8E06-C01F-C8B3B9A1E18E}, ,

Put a comment in below if this works for you!